Chapter 3
Julian laid Lily down after rocking her to sleep, then pulled Mia close against his chest.
Looking down at her with guilty eyes, he said, “I need to be here for you and Lily while I still can, before Elena pops. I couldn’t live with myself otherwise.“[]
Mia got exactly what she wanted. She shot me this smug look, practically gloating.
Something inside me just died for good. My heart was totally flatlined–no pulse, no nothing.
I didn’t even have the fight left in me to ask why anymore.
I let go and dragged myself upstairs.
As soon as I got off the elevator, I bumped into Neil, who was frantically looking around.[]
“Have you seen Julian?” he asked.]
“Yeah, I saw him. But I’m done with him.”
After I said that, I just closed my eyes.
My brain was already planning my next move.[]
Before Julian put a ring on it, I taught high school]
rd quit my job and moved to his city to take care of him when he got sick.
Now that I knew his love was bullshit, I wasn’t about to waste any more of my heart on him.[]
Once I made up my mind, I pulled out my phone and signed up to teach in some rural village.[]
In two weeks, I’d be heading out with the new grads.]
A week later, they discharged me from the hospital
Looking at our apartment building, all these memories of Julian and me came flooding back.
We’d met during a fire drill at school. Some cocky freshman had shoved me aside trying to take a shortcut.]
Instead of finding his shortcut, the idiot nearly pushed me over a railing.
Right when I was about to fall, Julian grabbed my arm.
Tve got you, don’t be scared,” he said, and just like that, I was hooked.]
From that moment on, I spent three years chasing after him.
Finally, all that hard work paid off when he proposed.[]
I thought we’d have that normal happily–ever–after, but during our second year of marriage, everything went to hell.
I was getting a massage at Westfield Mall when a fire broke out.]
Mia and her husband happened to be there too, though I had no clue who she was back then.[]
I just followed all those safety tips Julian had drilled into my head and found a spot that wasn’t likely to collapse.]]
Mia’s husband thought I was full of it and tried dragging her toward the exit.
Right then, this huge sign next to us came crashing down.]
I managed to yank Mia out of the way, but I couldn’t reach her husband in time.
When she saw him lying there bleeding out, Mia lost it and blamed me for killing him.
She went totally off the rails, but I just wanted to get the hell out of that nightmare.
Next time I saw her, Mia had flipped the whole story around.[]
She fed Julian this line about how her husband died saving my life.[]
After that, I was forever in Mia’s debt.]
Any time she played the victim, Julian would throw that disaster in my face.}
No matter how I tried to set the record straight, Julian wouldn’t hear it.[]
Then it hit me like a ton of bricks, and I couldn’t help but laugh at myself.]
It wasn’t that Julian didn’t believe me–he just didn’t want to admit his precious Mia was a liar.[]
I should’ve seen that a mile away, but I’d been playing blind just to keep our marriage from falling apart.[]
Turns out I was just as good at faking it as he was.]
With my mind made up. I headed home.[]
After throwing my stuff together, I printed out divorce papers while grabbing some water.[]
I barely glanced at them before scribbling my name.
Right then. I heard keys in the door.
Julian walked in carrying Lily, with Mia on his heels.]
She was pushing a suitcase with his jacket draped over her arm.
They looked like some perfect little family coming back from vacation.[]
Jalian froze when he saw me, then his face hardened.]
“You need to clear out of the master bedroom. Lily’s just getting over being sick and needs sunlight. You’ll have to crash somewhere else for a few days.“]
